Astha International plans Rs 500-cr 'Astha City' township at Berhampur

Construction boom in Berhampur

Astha International Limited, one of India's leading direct selling companies, expects to acquire 300 acres of land at the commercial capital of Odisha, Berhampur by January 2011 for its Rs 500-crore integrated township project called 'Astha City'. This would be the company's first residential cum commercial real estate project in Orissa which accounts for nearly 50 per cent of its overall turnover.

S S Kisan, Chairman and managing director, Astha International said, "We hope to take possession of 200 acres of land for our integrated township project at Berhampur by January 2011. Orissa is an important market for us and besides direct selling of the whole gamut of products, we would also like to invest in sectors like real estate and hospitality in the state."

Astha International, based out of Surat, Gujarat clocked revenue of 40 crore from its operations in the Orissa market in 2009-10 and its revenue is set to reach Rs 50 crore by the end of the current financial year.

To cater to its growing business needs, the company is planning to have ten offices in the state by this fiscal end. These offices would come up at locations like Balasore, Soro, Berhampur, Balugaon and Rourkela to name a few. The company has opened an office in Bhubaneswar and this would serve as the zonal office for the states of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.Astha International would also scale up its employee strength from 50 at present to over 500 in the next couple of years. The direct selling firm would ramp up its strength of distributors in the state from 1.3 lakh a present to 10 lakh by the end of 2012.

Besides its proposed township project, Astha International has also evinced interest in setting up a three-star hotel in the city but the details are yet to be finalized. The company also intends to build a mall in the city with a total built-up area of 15,000 sq ft.

Astha International, which has more than 10,000 products in 26 different segments, also plans to float a bank called Astha Bank by 2011-12. The company claims to have got the license from the Reserve bank of India and the bank is set to commence operations from 2011-12.

Source : Business Standard

Berhampur Airport (Rangeilunda) progress updates from OTV

Click here to see the future plans for Berhampur Airport at Rangeilunda

The historic Berhampur Airport (Rangeilunda) is located at a distance of around 5km from the city and adjacent to Berhampur University. The Rangeilunda air base was built by the Britishers during the second world war period and it remained as an air strip since then. The runway is currently used by the defence establishment, state government, private companies and VIPs to reach Berhampur and other places in south Odisha. State's second flying training Institute is coming up at Berhampur Airport in Rangeilunda. The Air Traffic Control Tower (MSSR site) and AAI offices are located close to the Airport. Recently efforts are being made by the government to make it a full fledged domestic Airport. This news video on the history and progress of Berhampur Airport is from OTV.

Distance from Rangeilunda Airport- (Berhampur University- 0km, Berhampur city 5km, Gopalpur-On-Sea-5km, Taratarini Hill Shrine 30km, Taptapani-50km, Chilka- 40km, Bhairabi Temple- 15km, Chatrapur-10km).

CM lays foundation stone for Tata Industrial Park and inaugurates STPI in Berhampur

Tata Industrial Park at Gopalpur near Berhampur city 

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone of Tata Industrial Park at Gopalpur today. Tata Steel managing Director H.M. Nerukar was also present while laying the foundation. Tata Group will start the project by setting up a Ferrochrome plant and a bar mill as anchor industries for the Industrial Park. The project is likely to be completed in two years time and provide employment opportunity to about 1000 people.

Berhampur city in Orissa gets country's 51st STPI

Bhubaneswar: The Orissa chief minister, Naveen Patnaik, along with the Union minister for Communication and Information Technology, Sachin Pilot, inaugurated the country's 51st Software Technology Park of India (STPI) at Ambapua, on the outskirts of Berhampur city, about 165 km away from here, on August 20.

"The STPI has built an ultra-modern IT infrastructure having fully furnished 10,000 sq ft built up space over an area of 5 acres at a cost of Rs 5 crore to nurture the need of local enterpreneurs and professionals to explore global opportunities in IT and ITES exports," said state IT minister Ramesh Majhi.

Speaking on the occasion,Pilot said that the Centre has provided Rs 292 crore to the Orissa government for IT related initiatives. He said that two IT pilot projects on rural health are now on in Orissa's Ganjam and Mayurbhanj districts.

Berhampur STPI is the thrid such centre in Orissa after Bhubaneswar and Rourkela. In July 2005, an MoU was signed between the state government and the STPI for setting up the centre in southern Orissa. The chief minister had laid the foundation stone for the project on December 13, 2006.

Oriya boy Harihar from Berhampur in India’s Got Talent-II

A Prince in the making

In the season 2 of the India’s Got Talent show by Colors TV Channel, Oriya lad Harihar Das from Berhampur has entered the quarter finals. The news has sent a wave of jubilation among the people of Berhampur city and Orissa as this is the second year in a row when a boy from the state and Berhampur city has reached up to this level in a national realty show. Last year the Prince Dance group of Berhampur got massive support from the entire state and stole the national limelight. 23 year old Harihar is from Ram Nagar area of Berhampur city and has completed his B.Tech from MITS, Rayagada and has earlier participated in DPL and Dance India Dance shows by Sony and Zee TV respectively.

School prayers cancelled in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack to reduce H1N1 spread

With swine flu killing seven persons in Orissa in 11 days this month and the H1N1 virus spreading beyond Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, the state Government today instructed all district collectors to restrict gatherings. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik reviewed the situation at a high-level meeting at the Secretariat. “We have asked district collectors to keep a watch on the swine flu situation and restrict gatherings,” Health and Family Welfare Minister Prasanna Acharya told reporters.

While six of the deaths occurred in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack, one took place in Bargarh district. “The Health Department has decided to keep hospitals ready at the district level to deal with swine flu patients,” the Minister said. He said there was stock of about three lakh tamiflu tablets and adequate vaccine for service providers at health centres and private hospitals.

The treatment for the viral infection was being carried out according to the Central Government’s guidelines, he said. The State Government today maintained that swine flu is fully curable and there is no cause for panic. Timely medication in consultation with doctors and clean environment are necessary to keep the disease from spreading. As the death rate of disease is 1 to 4 per cent, it can be prevented through awareness campaign and alertness.

Adequate stocks of medicine and masks have been rushed to all blocks in the State and guidelines on treatment have been sent to all doctors. The Centre has been requested to provide more vaccine and medicine to the State. There will be no prayer meetings in schools for some time now.

To prevent the disease from spreading in the schools, students have been advised to avoid mass gatherings.

Besides, teachers have been asked to make students aware of the disease and how to prevent it. The Chief Minister directed the Health Department officials to take immediate steps to ensure that the disease did not spread among students in anganwadis, sevashrams and special schools for the physically challenged students.

Source: The New Indian Express

Cars/SUVs zooming fast in Odisha

THE State’s transport scene has come of age. The people are now preferring private transport modes (cars/SUVs/2-wheelers).

Though the two-wheelers were 80 per cent of the total vehicles registered in Orissa in 2008-09, the year-on-year growth rate in the sales of cars/SUVs is very impressive. It is clocking an average growth rate of around 19 per cent per annum. 

The number of cars/SUVs in Orissa in 2008-09 was one per cent of the total nationally. While the total passenger vehicles (cars/SUVs) nationally in 2008-09 stood at over 1.2 crore, the total fleet in Orissa was over 1.5 lakh. The cars/SUVs have clocked a growth rate of around 170 per cent between 2001-02 and 2008-09. In comparison, the two-wheelers notched up only around 140 per cent growth during the said period.

The car/SUV growth is mainly concentrated in Class-I and II cities but the two- wheeler growth is broad-based. The density of cars in Orissa in 2008-09 stood at only 4 per 1,000 persons against over 15 per 1,000 persons nationally. The two-wheeler density in Orissa stood at 50 per 1,000 in 2008-09.

However, buses which were once the only public mode of transport in the State account for only 0.6 per cent of the total vehicle population in Orissa now. The frontline public transport system in villages and mainline cities now are - autorickshaws or trekkers.

Statistics show growth of autorickshaws between 2001-02 and 2008-09 have been a stupendous 333 per cent! The growth of trekkers is not as pronounced as autos but far better than those of buses. The growth of goods vehicles during the said period was a mere 7 per cent only.

But for the last three years, the Government has failed to achieve the targeted revenue from motor vehicles. This shortfall is due to leakages, says the latest CAG report.

Source: New Indian Express